''Signalis'' is a German

survival horror Survival horror is a Video game genre, subgenre of horror games. Although combat can be part of the gameplay, the player is made to feel less in control than in typical action games through limited ammunition or weapons, health, speed, and visio ...

video game developed by rose-engine and published by

Humble Games Humble Bundle, Inc. is a digital storefront for video games, which grew out of its original offering of Humble Bundles, collections of games sold at a price determined by the purchaser and with a portion of the price going towards charity and ...

and

Playism Playism (stylized as PLAYISM) is a Japanese independent video game publisher operated by Active Gaming Media. Playism started as a digital distribution platform for PC games in May 2011. History Playism was launched by Active Gaming Media in M ...

. The game was released for

Windows PC Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

, and

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on October 27, 2022. It received generally positive reviews upon release.

Gameplay

The core gameplay consists of

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elements from a top-down 2.5D perspective, with occasional

puzzle A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to find the solution of the puzzle. There are differe ...

elements. Puzzles vary from manipulating switches and dials, to searching for certain frequencies to broadcast in Elster's radio implant. Difficulty and thematic elements are enhanced through the use of

resource management In organizational studies, resource management is the efficient and effective development of an organization's resources when they are needed. Such resources may include the financial resources, inventory, human skills, production resources, or ...

as a gameplay and narrative mechanic. Elster is limited to six items on her person, including weapons, ammunition and key items for use in puzzle-solving and unlocking doors. In the fashion of ''

Resident Evil ''Resident Evil'', known as in Japan, is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...

'', another survival horror series, there are safe rooms that allow the player to save progress and store their items for future use.

Synopsis

Signalis is set in a retrofuturist world, in a planetary system reminiscent of the

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...

that is governed by the

totalitarian Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public sph ...

Eusan Nation, which remains at war with the Eusan Empire, from which it broke away. The Nation employs Replikas, "biosynthetic clones manufactured to emulate model workers and soldiers". The player character, Elster, is a ship technician Replika unit that awakens in the wreck of her crashed scout shuttle and sets out to look for the human pilot of her ship, encountering strange events of possibly supernatural origin in an underground mining facility. The game features multiple endings depending on the choices of the player.

Development

The game was developed by the two person German studio rose-engine, with development beginning in 2014. Additional help was brought on through external

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

s. The game was released across multiple platforms on October 27, 2022. Publishing was handled by Humble Games and Playism. ''Signalis'' is influenced by the ''

Silent Hill is a horror media franchise centered on a series of survival horror games created by Keiichiro Toyama and published by Konami. The first four main games—'' Silent Hill'', '' Silent Hill 2'', '' Silent Hill 3'', and '' Silent Hill 4: The ...

'' and ''

'' series. Aesthetically, the game pulls inspiration from the graphics of the

fifth generation of video game consoles The fifth generation era (also known as the 32-bit era, the 64-bit era, or the 3D era) refers to computer and video games, video game consoles, and handheld gaming consoles dating from approximately October 4, 1993, to March 23, 2006. The best ...

, particularly from the original

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

. The game includes a

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mode to further mimic the effect. Additional aesthetic influence comes from more traditional artwork, incorporating ''The Shore of Oblivion'' by

Eugen Bracht Eugen Felix Prosper Bracht (3 June 1842 – 5 November 1921) was a German landscape painter. Biography Bracht was born in Morges, Waadt (near Lake Geneva in Switzerland) of German parents. His family later moved to Darmstadt, Germany, where ...

as well as

Arnold Böcklin Arnold Böcklin (16 October 182716 January 1901) was a Swiss Symbolism (arts), Symbolist Painting, painter. His five versions of the ''Isle of the Dead (painting), Isle of the Dead'' inspired works by several late-Romantic composers. Biography ...

's '' Isle of the Dead'' into the game. Literary influences include " The Festival" by

H. P. Lovecraft Howard Phillips Lovecraft (, ; August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of Weird fiction, weird, Science fiction, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos. Born in Provi ...

and '' The King in Yellow'' by Robert W. Chambers. Filmic works by

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...

Hideaki Anno is a Anime, Japanese animator, filmmaker, Film producer, producer, and voice actor. His most celebrated creation, the Neon Genesis Evangelion (franchise), ''Evangelion'' franchise, has had a significant influence on the anime television industr ...

and

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 16, 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician, and actor. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Lynch was often called a "visionary" and received acclaim f ...

helped shape the narrative's themes of identity and memory in the game. In February 2024, rose-engine collaborated with the band

Health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

to create a music video for their song "Don't Try" featuring gameplay footage from ''Signalis''.

Reception

''Signalis'' received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, and 85% of critics recommended the game, according to

OpenCritic OpenCritic is a review aggregation website for video games. OpenCritic lists reviews from critics across multiple video game publications for the games listed on the site. The website then generates a numeric score by averaging all of the numeri ...

. Critics generally praised the atmosphere and environmental storytelling of the game, although the limited inventory and combat received criticism. Some reviewers offered praise of the overall game, while noting a specific aspect that they felt held it back. ''

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American Technology journalism, technology news website headquarters, headquartered in Lower Manhattan, New York City and operated by Vox Media. The website publishes news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, cons ...

'' noted issues with a few puzzles, but praised the overall game. ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

'' noted that the aiming was "unreliable", while ''

Nintendo Life Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British digital media company based in London. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and ot ...

'' instead critiqued that the

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, ...

fights of the game were not well suited to the combat system. The game was included on ''

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon ...

''s list of the best games of 2022. Willa Rowe, in a review published by ''

Inverse Inverse or invert may refer to: Science and mathematics * Inverse (logic), a type of conditional sentence which is an immediate inference made from another conditional sentence * Additive inverse, the inverse of a number that, when added to the ...

'', referred to the game as the "best horror game of 2022". The game was included on ''

PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games m ...

'' list of the top 100 PC games of all time.

Accolades

References

External links

*{{official, https://rose-engine.org/signalis/ 2020s horror video games 2022 video games Dystopian video games Humble Games games Indie games LGBTQ-related video games Lesbian fiction New York Game Award winners Nintendo Switch games Playism games PlayStation 4 games Retro-style video games Retrofuturistic video games Science fiction video games Single-player video games Survival horror video games Top-down video games Video games developed in Germany Video games featuring female protagonists Video games set in outer space Video games set in the future Video games set on fictional planets Windows games Xbox One games Video games about time loops Video games about cyborgs Romance video games